Evaluation of cardiac dysfunction in adult zebrafish using high frequency echocardiography

• Published in: Life sciences (1973) 2020-07, Vol.253, p.117732-10, Article 117732
• Main Authors: Fang, Yuehua, Sun, Yanyi, Luo, Chen, Gu, Jianing, Shi, Zhongwei, Lu, Guoping, Silvestre, Jean-Sébastien, Chen, Zhenyue
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult zebrafish; Anemia; Carbon monoxide; Cardiac function; Cardiac output; Congestive heart failure; Danio rerio; Diastole; Doxorubicin; Echocardiography; Ethanol; Evaluation; Heart failure; Hemoglobin; High output heart failure; High-frequency echocardiography; Histopathology; Low output heart failure; Regulators; Systole; Ventricle; Zebrafish
• ISSN: 0024-3205; 1879-0631
• DOI: 10.1016/j.lfs.2020.117732

Recently, the zebrafish has gained attention as an innovative experimental model to decipher molecular and cellular mechanisms involved in cardiovascular development and diseases. Nevertheless, the use of zebrafish models has been challenged because the transparency of these fish, which allows for accurate cardiac evaluation, disappears in adulthood. In this study, the epicardial outline method was performed to investigate the feasibility of echocardiography in assessing cardiac function in pathological adult zebrafish. We attempted to estimate heart failure in adult zebrafish treated with three distinct regulators of cardiac function: phenylhydrazine hydrochloride (PHZ), doxorubicin (DOX), and ethanol. B-mode and Doppler images were evaluated at frequencies of up to 50 MHz and 40 MHz, respectively. The correlation between alterations in cardiac function, haemoglobin concentration, and myocardial histopathology were assessed. Cardiac output (CO) in PHZ-treated zebrafish was significantly higher than that in control zebrafish (151 ± 67 vs. 84 ± 37 μl/min, P = 0.004), whereas ejection fraction (EF) was lower (36.3 ± 10.9 vs. 50.9 ± 8.7%, P